Tiny sliver of the whole budget pie

May 7th, 2010 5:00 PM UTC
By Kara Arsenault

It’s been an unbelievably busy budget season. First there was the administration’s $58.5 billion International Affairs budget (the 150 Account) request for FY2011 in February. Then there were lots of powerful calls, in support of the account, to the Congressional leadership, and the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Budget Committees— letters, 42 retired military leaders, 8 former Secretaries of State, and Senators and Representatives from both sides of the aisle. The chorus of support also strongly featured 150 ONE partners and friends, and not the least, meetings, phone calls, tweets and petition signings and deliveries from ONE members all across the country.

There’s still some work to do: two weeks ago, Senator Conrad proposed a big cut of $4 billion to the 150 Account. It is also important to note that it was the ONLY cut to the entire discretionary budget. We’ve got to let the Senate know that this slash is a big mistake—particularly when you look at the whole picture.

Out of the entire US budget, the funds for International Affairs make up less than 1.5%.

It’s about half of what Americans spend on fast food per year.

That’s an unbelievably small sliver of a whole budget pie.

We’ll be posting much more about the budget and appropriations process over the coming weeks and months. But don’t forget to spread the word to your family, friends and colleagues. : let’s fully fund the International Affairs Budget for FY2011. After all, it’s only 1.5% of the whole budget. Now that’s one teeny piece of pie.

TAGS: FY2011 US budget, ONE